Problem: The arithmetic sequence $(a_i)$ is defined by the formula: $a_i = -9 - 5(i - 1)$ What is $a_{8}$, the eighth term in the sequence?
Solution: From the given formula, we can see that the first term of the sequence is $-9$ and the common difference is $-5$ To find $a_{8}$ , we can simply substitute $i = 8$ into the given formula. Therefore, the eighth term is equal to $a_{8} = -9 - 5 (8 - 1) = -44$.